Egg-turning tray.



W. J. DUDLEY 84 T. A. RICHARD.

EGG TURNING TRAY.

APPLICATION FILED MAR. 11, I918.

Patented July 2, 1918.

ms NORRIS FEYERS cc.. PHOID-LITHQ. wnsulNcmN. n. c.

in an WILLIAM J. DUDLEY AND THOMAS AUGUSTUS RICHARD, F -WIL1VIII IGTOI I, OHIO.

EGG-TURNING TRAY.

lama.

Specification of Letters Tatent.

Patented July 2, 191.

Application filed March 11, 1918. Serial No. 221,764.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, WVILLLeM J. DUDLEY and TnoMAs A. RICHARD, citizens of the United States, residing at 155 Rombach avenue, Wilmingtomin the county of Clinton and State of ()hio, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Egg- Turning Trays; and we do declare the following to be a full clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertainsto make and use the same.

This invention relates to incubators, and

" relates 'more particularly to an improved form of egg-turning device or tray.

' One of the objects of this invention is to provide a thoroughly efi'ective means of as v surlng the removal of the tray from the incubator, in order that the eggs must essentially be temporarily exposed to the cooling effects of .the air extr'aneous to theincubator casing as a prerequisite to the turning of the eggs, 7

Another'object is to provide a device .of this character that may be operated from either of two opposite sides. l L 'Another object is tominimize the cost-of manufacture of incubatorsyby greatly simplifying the construction thereof.

1 Another object is to preventexcessive turning of the eggs'by unauthorized persons, orwill permit a regular attendant to turn them as often as he deems necessary. Other objects and advantages may become apparent to persons who read the'fol-' lowing details of description in connection with the accompanying drawings in which: Figure 1 is a vertical sectional view through an incubator comprising the. preferred embodiment of our invention. 7

Fig. 2 is a perspective View illustrating one of our improved egg-turning trays in position upon one of the nurseries, said tray and nursery being detached or removedfrom the casing of the incubator;

"Fig; 3 is atop planview illustrating one of the eggturning trays having one ofour improved turning attachments applied thereto;

Fig. 4: is an enlarged fragm'ental sec- 7 tional view showing the construction of our improved turning attachments and its connecti'onswith one of the egg-turning rollers; and

Fig. 5 is a perspective view showing our improved turning attachment detached.

Referring to these drawings in detail, in which similar reference characters correspond with similar parts throughout the severalviews, the incubator casing 10 may be of any ordinaryconstruction, which is provided with a door 10" or'a cover 11 and supporting strips 12. Upon the strips 12 may be supported a nursery 13 of any appropriate construction the bottom 1 1 of the nursery preferably being formed of wire netting or other reticulated material.

The improved tray comprises a four-sided open frame consistlng of imperforate side members 15 and perforated side members 16, the perforations or apertures 17 of which provide bearings for receiving the opposite ends 18 of the egg-turning rollers 19. The bearings 17 support the rollers 19 in such parallel and spaced relation to one another that the eggs to be supported thereby cannot fail therebetween. The ends of the rollers 19 terminate substantially at the outer surfaces of the sides 16, so that such ends present no obstruction to the movment of the tray in and out of the casing 10. As shown in Figs. 1, 2, and 3, the ends of the rollers are each provided with a non-cylindrical socket 20, these sockets being adapted to receive a non-cylindrical portion of the turning attachment which is described in detail hereinafter. The rollers are preferably reduced at their ends so as to provide shoulders 21 which prevent longitudinal movement of the rollers with relation to the sides 16.

Asshown'in Fig. 1, the walls of the casing 10 are imperforate, so as to prevent access to the sockets 20 when the tray is in the casing. This necessitates the removal of the tray from the casing, through door '10, as a prerequisite to engaging the turning attachment with the sockets 20. By thus requiring the removalof the tray from the casing, the proper and necessary airing and cooling of the eggs isassured. In this connection it may be well to explain that experience has taught that in incubating eggs, it is necessary that they be allowed to cool somewhat, at regular intervals, so that the chicks are aroused from their dormant state, while the egg shellsbecome more brittle, and the breaking of the shells becomes more nearly assured. In other words, the

percentage of chicks hatched from the eggs is greatly increased by such regular cooling. It has also been found by experience, that the cooling of the eggs in an incubator is likely to be neglected if the turning of the eggs can be accomplished without removing the egg tray from the incubator. Moreover, it is sometimes true that persons other than the "incubator attendants are admitted into the presence of the incubator, and that such persons are likely to meddle with the turning devices when such are accessible. Such unauthorized turning of the eggs might be so excessive as to cause very serious detriment thereto, or it might be only sufficient to turn, the eggs back to the position from bibb t e -bad en, eb fly u e e by bfiisb ns he seed effect b e y the r er turni re Moreover, in contradistinction to some known incubators, which are provided with normally accessible turning devices whereby all the eggs in a tray may be simultaneously turned, thi pre en te m of ee ur ing tray is comparatively inexpensive, whereas the devices referred to areessentially very expensive because of the provision of a turning device for each tray. In this present invention, it is necessary, as explained befo e. eggs, but it is not necessary to remove the tray to take chicks from the nursery. Only open incubator door and lift up front of tray and inserthand into nursery and take out chicks. Y

The turning attachment, shown separately in Fig. 5 will now be described as follows:

This turning element consists of a plurality oferank members 22, a spaci11g mem-,- her or bar 23, andfa handle or handle bar 24L. Each member 22 comprises a roller-engaging element 25, a handle-engaging element 26 anda crank element 27 between the elements 25 and 26. The roller engaging element is provided with a shoulder 28 and a noncylindrical end portion 29, the latter fitting snugly in the n n cylindrical apertures 20 of the rollers 19. The handle member 24: is secured on'the elements 26 by means of heads 30 formed on the latter,- and these elements 26 are rotatablein the respective bearingsiformed through. the handle bar 24:. The spacing bar 23 is formed with apertures or bearings 31 which are spaced commensu rately with thespacing ofthe sockets 20, so that thenon-cylindrical portions 29 of the cranks 22 are accurately guided to the sockets 2O whenany oneofsaid portions 29, is

is n registry. with the corresponding socket will be seen therefore, that the turni s atta hment my e v q b appli d for rotating all of the rollers 19 simultaneously, and that in thus applying the attachment all of theelementsi29 are simultaneously engagecl with the sockets 20, vMoreto remove the tray for cooling the.

over, it will be seen that this attachment is transferable and interchangeable with relation to the trays, and may be carried by the incubator attendant from one to another tray and from one to another incubator so that he may not only turn the eggs quickly and conveniently, but is compelled, as a prerequisite to the turning thereof, to subject the eggs to the cooling effects of the traneous air.

Although we have described this embodiment of our invention in very minute detail it is not intended to limit the invention to these exact details of construction and arrangement of parts, but we are entitled to make such minor changes that do not constitute a departure from the inventive ideas disclosed in the foregoing description and following claims.

We claim:

l. In an incubator, a hollow frame provided with a r-owof bearings at each of two opposite sides, a plurality of egg-supporting rollers journaled in said bearings and terminating substantially at the outer surfaces ofsaid opposite sides, a casing normally inclosing said frame and preventing access to the ends of said rollers, and means engageable with the ends of said rollers for turning them and the eggs thereon when said frame is removed from said casing, said means being disengaged from said rollers when said frame is within said casing whereby it is essential that the eggs on said rollers be exposed to the air extraneous to casing when the rollers are turned by said means c 2. In an incubator, a hollow frame provided with a row of bearings at each of two opposite sides, a plurality of eg -supporting rollers journaled in said bearings and terminating substantially at the outer surfacesof said opposite sides, a casing normally inclosing said frame and preventing access to the ends of said rollers, and means engageable with the ends of all of said rollers simultaneously for turning them and the eggs thereon when said frame is removed from said casing, said means being disengaged from said rollers when said frame is within; said casing, whereby it is essential that the eggs on said rollers be exposed to the air extraneous to said casing when the rollers are turned by said means.

"3,. In an attachment for simultaneously engaging a plurality of rollers so as to simultaneously turn the rollers, a plurality of crank members each comprising a rollerengaging element and a handle-engaging element and a crank element, a spacing mcmber provided with a plurality of hearings in which said roller-engaging elements are journaled, and a handle common to all the said handle-engaging elements and operat-ively connected to the latter, said attachrev/ eer ment being bodily transferable from one set of rollers to a similar set of rollers.

4:. In an attachment for simultaneously engaging a plurality of rollers so as to simultaneously turn the rollers, a plurality of crank members each comprising a rollerengaging element and a handle-engaging element and a crank element, a spacing member provided with a plurality of bearings in which said roller-engaging elements are journaled, and a handle common to all the said handle-engaging elements and operatively connected to the latter, said rollerengaging elements being provided with means for retaining engagement of said spacing member with said roller-engaging elements so that the attachment may be quickly and successively attached to a plurality of similar sets of rollers.

In testimony whereof we have hereunto set our hands in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

WILLIAM J. DUDLEY. THOMAS AUGUSTUS RICHARD.

Witnesses MINARD STEPHENS, W91, STnUAR'r.

(topics of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, a. t. 

